After racing the Shenandoah 100-mile mountain bike race this year I headed to Boone, North Carolina to see a close friend. Instead of the highway I opted for the through-the-mountains-and-Tennessee route. In Mountain City my obsession with grocery stores beckoned me to take a short stop.

Tea Party Propaganda, not unexpected. Later while listening to a call-in radio show, expecting the worst of fear-mongering conservative politics, I was pleasantly shocked by not one, but two callers. The first talked about the economy and how the blame is on the rich and the working-class need to learn all the DIY skills we used to know. Also that the economy shouldn’t return to what it was because that was exploitative. The second talked about hunting deer-with a camera! Seriously. Said it’s better cause you don’t have to kill the animal. Think of that next time you want to stereotype rural folks.